"Ain't I thinking of it?" put in the boy. "Uncle Brocky--that I never did see since I was a kid too small to remember him." "Pull yourself together, old man," said the schoolmaster with his arm over the boy's shoulder. Nelson's trust in him did much to enable Marty to brace up. He gulped down his sobs and drew his jacket sleeve across his eyes. "You just tell me what to do," he choked. "I don't know myself yet. I'll keep this paper. I'll leave it to you to divert the New York paper from the library. You can do that, for the postmaster will give you the library mail if you're there on time for it." "I'll be there," Marty declared. "We'll tell Walky----" "Oh--Jehoshophat!" gasped Marty. "_He_ leaks like a sieve. Might's well tell the town crier as tell Walky." "We'll mend his leak," the schoolmaster said grimly. "Walky loves Janice. We'll easily shut his mouth. Perhaps we can warn other people so that no word will be let drop. I can learn, I suppose, who takes this paper." "Oh, hookey!" groaned Marty suddenly. "The hull town'll know it next Thursday if they don't before." "Why so?" "That is the day the Middletown _Courier_ comes out. They had a big piece in it about Uncle Brocky before. They'll grab this story like a hungry dog does a bone. It's _news_." "You have a head on your shoulders, boy," admitted Nelson Haley, and all but groaned himself. He would not give way to despair. "I'll think about that. I'll find some way of keeping the _Courier_ out of town." "And Janice riding right over there to school four days a week," suggested Marty. "I never thought of that," muttered Nelson. "'Most everybody takes the _Courier_ here in Polktown. An', oh gee! there's dad's _Ledger_. She might get hold of that." "If you can't stop _that_ coming to the house you're no good," declared Nelson. "Oh, I'll stop it. Dad'll have a fit though. He swears by the _Ledger_. But ma don't care for nothin' but the _Fireside Favorite_, and there won't be any Mexican news in _that_." "We must be on the watch to keep every line of communication closed--to keep Janice ignorant of this at least until the facts are better known. Perhaps they will be disproved. I'll write to-night to Washington. And you get me the name of that friend of Mr. Broxton Day's down there on the Border who communicated with Janice once before when it looked as though your uncle was lost. Remember?" "Sure!" agreed Marty. "I'll tell Walky to-night. You find a chance to speak to your father and mother. Be sure Janice doesn't hear you." "Some job!" "Well, it's _our_ job. Understand?" Nelson said earnestly. "I'm with you, Mr. Haley," the boy responded, quite recovered from his first disturbance of mind. "You can bank on me." "Great boy!" Nelson said, patting him on the shoulder again. "Janice has done so much--so much for the town, so much for us all! We should be able to do something to secure her peace of mind, Marty." "Hi tunket! I believe you, Mr. Haley."